Policy & Resources Cabinet Member – Minutes – 22 September 2014

151 (24) VIREMENTS 2014-15– The Director of Policy and Resources submitted a report which sought approval for changes to the revenue and capital budgets for 2014/15 as part of the council’s policy of active budget management.

On 25 February 2014 Council approved the revenue and capital budgets for the 2014/15 financial year respectively. The report gave details of virements approved by the Director of Policy and Resources under delegated powers and those that required Cabinet Member approval.

Resolved – (a) That the virements at paragraph 3.1 of the report, approved by the Director of Policy and Resources under delegated powers be noted, and (b) that the permanent virements outlined in paragraph 3.2 of the report be approved.

The council’s Digital Technologies policy was essential in governing how employees used internet, email, social media and mobile devices. Any misuse of digital technologies could cost the council money and potentially damage its reputation.

The purpose of the policy was to make clear the standards expected when using digital technologies. The policy had been updated to reflect these new management arrangements for mobile devices used across the council. This extended to employees who chose to use their personal devices to access the new corporate workspace.

The revised policy provided robust guidance on the remote management of mobile devices, both corporate and personal.

Resolved – That the revised policy be approved.

153 (26) NATIONAL PROCUREMENT STRATEGY FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENT 2014 – The Director of Policy and Resources submitted a report to inform the Cabinet Member that the Local Government Association (LGA) had produced a national procurement strategy for local government in England which set out a vision for local government procurement and encouraged all councils in England to engage with its delivery.

A copy of the strategy was appended to the report.

The strategy set out a vision for the sector:

commitment from the top in each council

more efficient use of the sector’s procurement resources

speaking with a single cohesive voice nationally; and

exerting influence right across the public sector

The vision was accompanied by a range of specific outcomes and recommendations for councils, public buying organisations and national and regional bodies shaped around four specific themes:

Theme A: Making Savings

Theme B: Supporting Local Economies

Theme C: Leadership

Theme D: Modernisation

The national strategy was considered by the council’s strategic commissioning and procurement group in July and the group recognised the close alignment of the new national strategy with the council’s existing procurement strategy.

Resolved – (a) That the direction set out in the national procurement strategy be noted, and (b) that the national strategy be used to inform the updating of the council’s procurement strategy in 2015.

154 (27) NEW EU PROCUREMENT DIRECTIVE 2014 – The Director of Policy and Resources submitted a report to inform the Cabinet Member that a significant new directive came into force on 17 April 2014. Member states had 24 months to adopt it and the UK government had signalled its intent to transpose the new directive into regulations during 2014/15.

Pending transposition into UK law, the report detailed the key changes and highlighted the purported benefits for contracting authorities and suppliers.

The purpose of the directives was to open up the public procurement market and to ensure the free movement of supplies, services and works within the EU.

The principal changes and potential benefits to the council/suppliers were summarised in the report.

Resolved – (a) That the implications for procurement procedures and associated benefits were noted; and (b) that a report detailing the specific procedural changes required to contract procedure rules (CPRs) be produced once the precise details of the transposed directive are known.

Note: Reports are in Portable Document Format (PDF) and therefore require a suitable reader to view them. A reader can be downloaded free from the Adobe website (full instructions for downloading the reader are provided on the site).

Where there is no report this is because it is exempt, as it contains information which is considered to be of a confidential nature, as detailed in the Local Government (Access to Information) Act.